Earth Dwellers
by Wakadooia
Summary: Earth is at risk of being consumed by a bitter old enemy. It's up to the Bee team to partner up with a group of odd Decepticons to stop them. ((Tester/teaser chapter, no OC/Canon relationships apart from friends, rated M for silly jokes and fights))
1. Chapter 1

Sunlight trickled through the treeline as gently as the dew drops dripped from the leaves.

It was a beautiful sight.

Yet it went ignored as Sideswipe put all his focus into writing "BUTT" in the biggest letters possible on the sleeping Grimlock's Dino-aft.

After all, it wasn't that easy for him to use a human-sized writing tool.  
He needed to focus, this was totally important after all.

"That's another one" Denny decided to break the silence of the yard, the sudden noise making Sideswipe jump behind a pile of tires to 'avoid detection'.

Denny had clamped the newspaper to his chest and met Sideswipes wide-opticed stare with his own startled look.  
Grimlock remained asleep.

"Denny could you not be so loud? I'll get caught!" Sideswipe relaxed slightly as he hissed at the human, slowly getting up from his little hiding spot.

"Oh! Sorry" Denny began whispering "Uh, what are you doing?"

"Uh, duh! I'm adding some much-needed amusement here, there's been no Decepticons in forever, gotta do something" Sideswipe shrugged nonchalantly.

"Like write on Grimlock?" Denny crossed his arms around the paper.

"... He's a heavy sleeper" Sideswipe added another shrug as if it all made sense now.

"Right… well, I think we might have a possible lead on a maybe-Decepticon" Denny held out the newspaper triumphantly "I'm taking it to Fixit to see what he thinks!"

"Ah, I hope you're right" Sideswipe sighed suddenly abandoning 'quietness' as he looked over his horrendously written 'butt', a monument to boredom.

Sideswipe followed Denny to the control point, it was empty as the rest of the Autobots were either performing their patrols or just elsewhere in the Scrapyard.

By the control centre, there was a small cupboard, port-a-potty like thing, just a plastic room big enough for one person to stand in and not attached to the floor, whatever it's original function the inside of it had been stripped out and cleaned.  
The inside instead had been refitted with pillows, so they coated the walls.

Denny had made it for Fixit when realising the stuttering Autobot occasionally got overwhelmed, not entirely helped by spikes of self-consciousness for his stuttering and vocal issues.  
It was Fixit's personal 'escape' room just for a little relaxation with no one watching over him and soft walls to slump against.

Just in case he'd fallen asleep or something Denny rapped on the door loudly, keeping up to an internal rhythm as he kept going for a noticeable amount of time.

Sideswipe rolled his optics and place a finger atop the little 'booth' and shook it from side to side, given the small nook it was slotted into that was little more than an Earth-Inch each way.

"Sideswipe don't" Denny fruitlessly waved his hand at the Autobots as if he could shove him off the booth.

"Yes, you don't need to prattle-rattle my, uh, private room, I turn the dial on the front if I'm in there anyway…" Both Denny and Sideswipe looked up to the control centre to see a small orange face peering over the edge at them.

"Oh!... Right" Denny looked back at the little room he made and the green vacant sign on the door "Of course"

"Yo little guy, are there any Decepticon sightings or stuff going on? Denny thinks he's got something" Sideswipe stood back up and stretched "Gotta hope it's somethin' need to keep the joints from goin' rusty, am I right?"

Fixit didn't seem to get it and stared at him for a few moments  
"I haven't got any Decepticons signals" He finally responded sounding a little confused.

"Well, I have something of interest at least" Denny made a small wheeze, as Fixit had been focused on Sideswipe the human and run around and ran up the ramp, holding the newspaper out in front of him.

"Ah! A classic human news outlet!" Fixit examined the paper in Denny's hand as if it was the object of study.

"Yes, but no, I mean this is the interesting part!" Denny uncrumpled it and turned the pages until he got to his desired section, whereupon he dropped the newspaper onto the control panel as if allowing the two 'bots a chance to look at it themselves.  
"There, another campsite found mysteriously drained of energy, even backup batteries! Everything remotely electrical just died, and here's the kicker! This is the second time one of these scenes has reported a-" Denny cleared his throat "A Y-shaped incision into their engines-slash-generators AND strange slime!"

"The energy is interesting but time? Lime? Slime!?" Fixit eventually coughed out.

"Grody" Sideswipe curled his lip-plates.

"Y-yes…" Denny seemed quietly unsure of himself "I mean that warrants some interest right? I mean, last time I checked no human has a device that just drains engines an' stuff of their power, plus, of course, the slime. No footprints mentioned either…"

"Y-shaped incisions are an interesting touch if it were a prisoner, tearing the panels off or just a singular cut to reveal the power source would be e-enough" Fixit grabbed the newspaper and in a clumsy motion took out the page the article had been written on.

"Calling card maybe?" Denny shrugged, "I just kept seeing these reports and thought it was definitely something to bring to you guys!" He looked hopeful.

"Maybe it's not Cybertronian at all" Sideswipe shrugged "Not our deal then"

"Wait, MORE aliens!" Denny's hands clasped onto the control point in shock almost as if the idea of more sentient life forms in space was new before he began to control himself "I mean, there are other races?"

"It's not improbable… impossible" Fixit cocked his head.

"Wait, you don't know if there's life on other planets than ours?" Denny took his turn to look pensive.

"No, I mean for the generators, I mean that's… what we were talking about right?" Fixit instead looked lost.

"Uh, yeah, can we just find out if there's anything interesting about this Y-power-stealer? I mean I HOPE it's a prisoner, got nothin' else to do" Sideswipe tapped the control panel impatiently prompting Fixit to begin typing away again.

"W-well a localised media scan reveals little in the way of reported mechanical life forms, only a pretty bright shooting car, star nearby" His tapping brought several Cybertronian letters and words up, leaving Denny quite clueless as to what kind of sense he made out of such symbols.

"Ooooh, shooting star eh?" Sideswipe grinned "It's the Energy munchers from planet Z!" He wiggled his fingers enthusiastically.

"What P-planet Z? Did I miss a planet when I passed through this solar system?" Fixit - who had been more focused on his screens than conversation - suddenly jumped up to look between his associates.

"What's 'Planet Z'?" Bumblebee had overheard the conversation and advanced on the group.

"I don't know commander! I-I was just basking! Asking!" Fixit warbled.

"It's a joke dude" Sideswipe waved a hand flippantly.

"Not causing trouble again, are we? I know there's not much going on but..." Bumblebee had an optical ridge arched.

"O' yee of little faith" Sideswipe crooned.

"Well regardless of planets and aliens, I think I've found a lead!" Denny steered the conversation back on track.

"Sounds interesting, shoot" Bumblebee turned his attention away from Sideswipe's faux innocent smile.

"There have been MULTIPLE reports of campers losing ALL power! Just gone! The only clue's being a Y-shaped incision and some sliiime!" Denny grinned enthusiastically and wiggled his fingers for extra dramatic effect.

"Huh… Sounds interesting" the hint of curious scepticism evident in his tone "Seems worth checking out, purely for the curious nature of it, and for some activity"

"Tell me about it" Sideswipe uttered to the side.

"Fixit run a check on possible Decepticon culprits while I radio everyone back in, we can scour the forest for clues" Bumblebee finished and ignored his teammate.

By the time the entire team reached the command point the sun had reached its peak in the sky and Strongarm was following Grimlock.

Her optics squarely glued to his rear, her brow furrowed in confused ridges.

"Alright, team!" Bumblebee got everyone's attention, apart from Sideswipe who couldn't resist throwing as many glances at Strongarm as possible, "We have some strange circumstances to investigate, might be a Decepticon, might not be, but it's suspicious enough to warrant a search, just to be safe"

"What information do we have on this possible convict?" Drift had kept himself rigid and attentive the entire time, probably not even noticing Strongarm unusual quietness or the not-so-subtle 'edits' to Grimlock.

"Take it away Fixit" Bumblebee stepped to the side and allowed the Mini-con to head the group, much to Fixit's seeming dismay as he stuttered to life, not expecting the sudden involvement.

"Oh! O-o-oh right-o! Righty-o!" He chirped largely to himself as he clattered about with his instruments before bringing up an enlarged version of the article photo Denny had shown him earlier "This is a photo of what this, uh, customer leaves behind, very distinct Y-shaped cuts, they uh, also leave c-co-copious amounts of slime in trails around the site. All of this with the goal of draining energy, each of these tacks… attacks! Have left the sites completely drained of power! And as we know there is no Earthly technology capable of such feats"

His small presentation caused a small round of muttering from the gathered Autobots as they processed the information.

"Um, Sir?" Strongarm finally piped up, raising a hand up as if trying to draw attention to herself.

"Hey! Yeah! Fixit! So how about the Prisoner profiles, eh? Got any leads?" Sideswipe jumped up and overrode the conversation.

"No." Fixit was flatter than a bad tire.

"Really? Nothing?" Sideswipe was uncharacteristically inquisitive.

"No Prisoners matching this problem, there are a couple who use slime-like substances but their interests aren't in energy and this behaviour would be uncharacteristic for them" Fixit chimed.

"So we're going in blind to hunt down an Energy thief" Drift had somehow presented the line in a way that made it impossible to tell if it were a question or statement.

"Yes, we are!" Bumblebee sounded a bit too chipper "But Fixit has tracked a small pattern to these 'incidents', the first one was close to a lake nestled within this heavily wooded area, and since then they have been moving away from the lake but, naturally keeping close to a camping trail used by humans. After these reports, It seems that no one has gone up there today, so it's a perfect opportunity to comb the area for the culprit"

Wordlessly the Groundbridge burst to life, a thrumming light inviting them all into its vortex.


	2. Chapter 2

The forest was cool and crisp.

The high leaves of the tree's sheltered the mossy ground from harsh rays of sunlight protecting the lower layers with a bubble of cool air.

The Groundbridge dropped the Autobots a fair distance into the forest, far enough that no prying eyes would see the light but close enough to the main camping strip to be a short walk.

"Right, As of now we don't know who or what is doing this or the extent of their abilities, to stay on the safe side we'll go off in groups, Drift you and your students go west, Sideswipe and Strongarm go South, Grim will come with me to the East, the trail is to the west so the North and South teams will keep an optic on it as they go" Bumblebee shot out some orders, splitting the team up into groups, there wasn't much to this plan to argue and the group dispersed.

"Alright Grim, keep your optics peeled-"

"That sounds painful"

"- for anything suspicious and evidently, slimy" Bumblebee trailed off over the last few words at the Dinobot's dismissal of 'peeling' his sensors.

It left them a few moments to stare at each other silently before Bee headed further into the forest.

The leafy green vegetation and mottled shadows made this one of the very few places Grimlock's green and black scheme worked to his advantage.

Size, however, did not as while Bumblebee kept a few steps ahead their journey had its own theme music of thumping trees.

Grimlock whined as his hips swung and whacked another tree, raining down leaves, he tried moving his hips less as he walked but instead his tail swung about and completely knocked down a smaller tree.

Bumblebee did not think bringing a Dinobot into this densely wooded area through.

"I'm tryin'!" Grimlock needed little more than the yellow Autobots expression to gather what was wrong.

"Grimlock find your own path, you don't have to follow me directly, just stick by me" Bumblebee nodded to a spot where the trees were more spaced.

As the Dinobot weaved his way over Bumblebee got a full look at the guy, or more accurately the butt.

He tried not to roll his optics too much but with Sideswipe's consistent goofy behaviour Bumblebee had become more sympathetic to the many times Ratchet had rolled his optics in a huff when Wheeljack or Smokescreen had done something bothersome.

The poorly written words weren't too terrible and it was something only Sideswipe would find amusing. No need to cause a fuss over it now.

"If there's a lake around here, y'think it's just water and not slime" Grimlock was rubbing a claw against his chin, tail waving slowly.

"No, water would have evaporated by the time those photos were taken, it's some sort of thin slime trail" Bumblebee shook his head

"But where they gettin' it from? There's no slime pool 'round here is there? Is there?!" Grimlock perked up.

"N-no, Earth isn't known for its slime pools Grimlock" An optical ridge went up curious at this sudden jolt of slime-related excitement.

"Aww man, that sucks! I had so many great times in slime pools! Oh! Oh! Oh! Did I ever tell you guys about the time my buddy got stuck in a slime pool once!? Oh, it was hilarious! Fun guy! Didn't notice until he'd sunk down to the hubcaps of his knees!" Grimlock waved his hands about excitedly.

It was quite adorable to see Grimlock suddenly bound off into an excited tale, gave a nice glimpse into his non-punching-related interests.

It also revealed he did have a small gang of friends before he ended up on the Alchemor, a group they'd all promised to help him find when Fixit had told him they were not present aboard the prison ship.

Although Bumblebee was uncertain about that, from Grimlock's descriptions one was more fight-y than he was and he wasn't sure Earth could handle two rambunctious Dinobots.

Bumblebee's comm link went off as it no doubt did for all the Autobots

"Drift to Autobots, keep your optics up, this energy thief likes climbing, I have found slime trails leading up the trees but as of yet no trace of the culprit".

Bumblebee gave an acknowledgement before turning his attention back to Grimlock.

"... But anyway that's how Sludge got his name" He finished.

"That was fascinating" Sped out of Bee like an automated response "Drift just contacted me with some new information too, this thief likes to climb so keep an optic on all directions"

Grimlock grunted as he suddenly craned his neck back at an angle that looked anything but comfortable.

"Y'sure 'bout that! I can't see a thing!" Grimlock began stumbling about squinting up into the treetops.

By not keeping an optic on the ground Grimlock ended up getting caught on a root and rolling to the floor as Bumblebee winced at his clumsiness, it was harmless at least as Grimlock was already squirming back onto his pedes.

"I meant to do that" He uttered shaking the dirt off his hide and looking around him for any other witnesses "Whas'sat?" He suddenly curled in on himself treading an endless circle on the spot "Bee what is that!?"

"It says Butt, a human word for aft, Grim' it's just Side-" Bumblebee began to explain as Grimlock finally caught sight of the 'prank' he'd been subjected to.

"You mean like a label?" Grimlock froze "Bee! Bee! Bee!" He began panting not moving from the spot, prompting Bumblebee to jump over.

"Grim? What's wrong?" He began looking over the Dinobot trying to see if there was anything on him causing such behaviour.

"Has it spread?" Grimlock hissed.

"Wait… What?" Now Bumblebee was really confused.

"Are there more labels on me Bee!?" Grimlock whined, "I don't want to be a diagram!"

Even with an answer, Bumblebee was still confused.

"I know I'm the greatest example of a Dinobot about but I don't wanna be put in a book! Don't let them take me, Bee! I'M NO ONE'S DIAGRAM!" Grimlock lurched forwards and grabbed Bumblebee's shoulders shaking the smaller Autobot vigorously "No! I can stop this! No book is gonna take me without a fight!"

Grimlock promptly let Bee go with a light shove and began twirling once again, arms scrambling to reach his rear no doubt in an effort to wipe the words off.

"Grimlock, you're not turning into a diagram! That's not even how- I, look Grim' you're fine!" Bumblebee tiredly rubbed his face.

"Of course not! They'll never take me alive! I'll rub this label off and stop the infection! No Dia-grim for them!" Grimlock sounded triumphant in his strange logic, deciding on a new tactic as to Bumblebee's horror he began jumping backwards into a nearby tree.

Immediately leaves cascaded down upon both of them as the tree was repeatedly slammed.

Over and over again until the leaves stopped with a loud wet slap.

"AAH I'M HIT!" Grimlock dropped to the ground as his shout echoed throughout the forest.

Bumblebee froze, staring dumbfounded at what had just transpired.

Thumping and rustling heralded the arrival of the other Autobots.

"Sir! What's going on we heard Grimlock scream?!" Strongarm sounded almost out of breath as she twirled around with her Decepticon Hunter out, Sideswipe following quickly.

"Where is the perpetrator?" Drift added as he and his students came from the other side all three scanning the environment with weapons in-hand.

Bumblebee only pointed at the frozen, startled Grimlock.

On the back of his neck, something a dark sickly shade of greenish-gray was flopped over the back of his neck. Its skin glistened with a thin layer of slime as it swelled and shrank with its movements. Along its sides, it had what appeared to be dull orange lumps.

It was also fairly large, and enticing many disgusted responses from the Autobots as they viewed it.

"The wounds not that bad is it? Doesn't hurt I mean…" Grimlock got up, the wet thing clinging to his neck.

"Uh, let's just get back to the Scrapyard, with our… guest" Bumblebee slowly reached for his comms unsure if sudden movements would startle… whatever it was.

"What guest?" Grimlock was still oblivious.

"Just come through the bridge carefully" Bee instructed as Fixit sent them their transport.

Fixit watched from the command centre as the group returned all of them keeping a curious distance from Grimlock.

"Fixit, could you scan what's on Grimlock's neck for us, it might be… well, the thief, or at least something that needs removing…" Bumblebee was clearly keeping his voice quiet.

"What's on my neck? What're you all staring at? Why won't you tell me!?" Grimlock was rightly confused and irritable.

"Just don't panic Grim' we'll get it off you!" Strongarm tried to calm him down, avoiding looking at the thing but Grimlock only frowned further annoyed.

"Yeah, it does look pretty gross buddy" Sideswipe did not help.

"WHAT looks gross!?" Grimlock whined.

"Stay pill-dill-still! For a little longer and I'll tell you, it's taking a while to scan" Fixit held up a hand as if physically making everyone freeze.

"Is it dangerous?" Drift had a valid question

"What's dangerous? AM I GOING TO DIE!?" Grimlock grabbed his head shaking.

"No! No! Please just keep calm until we know what… it is" Bumblebee shared a glare between all of the Autobots.

"Well, that's curious" Fixit rubbed his head, "there shouldn't be any these on Earth"

"What is it?" Bumblebee leant over, taking a look at Fixit's screen.

"It's an Energy Leech!" Fixit revealed.

"Oh! An Energy leech? That's it?" Grimlock suddenly stopped shaking and stood upright, trying to peer over his shoulder and get a glimpse of it.

"Wait, you're okay with that? It's hideous" Strongarm was still visibly disgusted at the leech.

"Pfff! Yeah! Used to get them sometimes in the Acid Wastes on Cybertron! Not a problem, just gotta wait an' they drop off by themselves!" Grimlock had his hands on his hips grinning.

"Yes! Grimlock is quite correct! Attempts at removing the leech could cause it to recogni-re-regurgitate! It's meal and that brings the risk of infection from any Energon-carried disease it may have consumed!" Fixit clasped his hands together "Grimlock I'm impressed!"

"Aaah! It ain't nothin'!" Grimlock grinned a slight tint to his cheeks "Go on…"

"But that's disgusting!" Strongarm gestured at the creature "It could be diseased!?"

"It isn't, no diseases have shown up on the scan, but it is still unwise to forcefully remove it! Just have something on standby for when it flops, uh, drops, for uh, both Grimlock and the leech, it'll have injected him with something to stop his self-repair systems from sealing the Energon leak" Fixit beamed but was now staring at Bumblebee.

"Alright" Bumblebee caught his look "For now we rest and wait for the leech to detach before proceeding any further"

The Autobots nodded and Strongarm promptly nominated herself for another patrol. Away from the leech.

"You think it could be our culprit?" Bumblebee turned back to Fixit once he was sure all the Autobots were fine.

"Likely so, they can survive off most forms of energy but It's probably the energy from the cramps-gramps-camps weren't much of a meal for it, hence all the drainings and why it homed in on a large source of fresh Energon so quickly. After Grimlock, it should be set for a long long time" Fixit tapped away at his controls pulling up data sheets on Energy leeches for study.

"So what's the problem?" Bee rapped his fingers against his own armour.

"Well, it's much bigger than a leech its species could-should be!" Fixit looked frantic "There's evidence of tampering with its genome! Someone's been experimenting with it!"

"And that someone is still out there!" Bee gasped.


	3. Chapter 3

The atmosphere could easily be described as pensive, while only Bumblebee and Fixit were aware of the tampering that went into the leech's body none of the Autobots seemed too into the creature, the humans hurried away from the sight of it too.

Apart from Grimlock.

He was content to carry on like normal, watching Drift and his students train, even making clumsy efforts to join in and mimic their training. He didn't try transforming for risk of dislodging it prematurely but was just… fine, with it, on him.

Upon returning from her patrol Grimlock manage to ward Strongarm off immediately by remarking

"Oooh squishy" as the leech moved slightly on his neck.

By now he'd fallen asleep as the sun began to set, arms crossed before him, tail wagging gently.

And a big throbbing leech on his neck.

It was... hard to ignore.

Jetstorm and Slipstream had already been told off numerous times regarding the leech, Grimlock being happy to show it off didn't help, but the two Mini's seemed utterly fascinated by the thing and as soon as training ended were stood around the sleeping Dinobot.

"What would happen if I poke it?" Jetstorm whispered.

"Ew, don't do that!" Slipstream hissed.

"With a stick I mean!" Jetstorm defended his suggestion before they both fell silent to watch the glistening mass. It had certainly grown wider since they'd returned from the forest, gorging on Grimlock's Energon, even the dull lumps on its side seemed to have become a shade brighter as it sucked down its meal.

"I'm gonna poke it" Sideswipe startled the two Mini-cons as he appeared with a stick "Beatin' ya' to it" he grinned at them.

Quickly the red Autobot flicked his stick, the tip poking the leech repeatedly, it's thick body contracting in on itself almost like its skin moved over a lumpy inside.

Sideswipe barely held back a chuckle as the spectating students let out a half-disgusted, half-fascinated 'oooooh'.

Casting them a 'daring' glance Sideswipe repositioned the stick and began poking about its underside rocking it from side to side and earning a gasp from his audience.

If he wiggled the stick a bit more he could almost get it under the leech.

POP.

Bumblebee, Denny, Fixit and Strongarm were gathered around the control centre.

All four were there to witness each other leap several feet into the air as the darkening sky became filled with shrill shrieking and running.

Denny fell flat, Fixit had almost dropped to the ground and was covering his head, Strongarm was trying to keep a hold of her Decepticon Hunter that she nearly dropped in her panic to equip it and Bumblebee smacked his head against the edge of the command centre.

While the screaming was dying down Sideswipe bolted past the quartet, stick in hand yelling.

"THE FRAGGING THING DROPPED OFF!" as he vanished.

"What? The leech!? It's loose?" Strongarm went from wielding the Decepticon Hunter to practically hugging it.

Letting her stay by the command centre rather than follow Bumblebee darted off in the opposite direction to Sideswipe quickly finding the hard-to-miss form of Grimlock who was sat back, barely awake and confused and had a dull glow running down his back from a few streams of Energon.

Drift too was just arriving with two whimpering Mini's clinging to his legs.

"Hey look! It fell off!" Grimlock seemed to suddenly wake up and held his arms out, a fat droopy leech clasped in his servos.

Grimlock seemed utterly happy to cradle the sedate leech as he followed Bumblebee around to their newly constructed 'leech house'. By the time Fixit had caught up with the situation and gathered the appropriate equipment for Grimlock the Dinobot's side was patterned with streaks of Energon from a small y-shaped cut in his armour.

Their container for the leech was nothing more than a skip, filled halfway with water and several strips of chicken wire layered over the top in an attempt at making the holes too small for the oversized leech to squeeze through.

It went in happily enough and sat unmoving at the bottom.

"You're sure that thing can't get out right?" Strongarm kept her distance from the skip, not even trying to peer into it.

"Even if it did Strongarm it won't attack many-any of us! It's perfectly safe now" Fixit tapped Grimlock's neck checking over his work "It's full up, that's why it detached"

"Still gross, it just popped off!" Sideswipe curled his lip plates.

"Yes, I suppose it's good no one tried to dislodge it with anything, hm?" Bumblebee put a 'look' on him.

"Oh come on! You're lying if you say you weren't at least a liiiiittle curious about touching the thing! I just wasn't going to touch that freaky thing without something between me and it" Sideswipe threw his arms in the air.

"Then you can change it's water out when it needs it" Bumblebee crossed his arms "Apparently they need a water change every now and then"

"Yes, stagnant water does then po-mow-no good!" Fixit rolled between them all "I'd better go check on our new problem though"

"New problem?" Drift managed to get his students to calm down and stop trying to look into the skip.

"Yes, reports are coming in that the south side of Crown City is experiencing major power cuts" Bumblebee explained.

"More leeches? Are they taking over?" Strongarm backed up a little.

"Possible" Bumblebee shrugged "All we know is the station is not reporting anything so hopefully none of the humans there are in danger, but given our 'guest' it's worth checking out"

"Definitely worth it!" Denny reported back from the command centre swapping places with Fixit "The power station just went out entirely, south side of the city is dark"

"Then that's settled, Fixit get us a Ground Bridge as close as possible, Grimlock," Bumblebee paused thinking about the many many cons to bringing him into the city "Stay here, I don't want to risk a possible injury while your self-repair systems are still down"

Grimlock seemed to accept that and sat back down resisting the urge to scratch at his newly repaired neck.

"Need us to come along?" Denny had already picked up a scruffy blue jacket, probably already formulating a disguise and cover story.

It would help them to get into the power plant.

Then again, having Strongarm put on her flashing lights might be enough to squeak past.

But it wouldn't help all the Autobots with their less-official-looking alt modes.

But there was some 'mad leech scientist' around.

"No Denny, we'll slip in without detection, the rear of the plant is barely covered and hopefully with people's attentions drawn, no humans" Bumblebee smiled "A quick in-and-out, it could just be a coincidence"

Denny seemed less than pleased but wasn't in the habit of questioning Bumblebee's decisions and let it slide, Fixit, on the other hand, had to place their Ground bridge a fair distance away from Crown City, with the lights out at the one side a great big glowing portal would definitely get human attention.

Driving into the south end of Crown City was eerie, to say the least.

No lights and groups of confused almost lost-looking humans meandering around outside, many sat in their cars the batteries there still working as they used their headlights to provide some illumination.

"Strongarm, tell them to go home, just in case there are leeches or whoever brought them here nearby we don't want them catching sight of us chasing them down" Bumblebee slowed down, allowing her to head the group.

It wasn't hard to convince people to just leave it and go home.

The flashing lights of Strongarm's alt mode drew them in like Insecticons and her voice quickly settled them into returning home.

The assurance of the problem being fixed 'as she spoke' was easily enough to make them all nod and leave with little fuss apart from a few sharp words about Crown City council's ineffectiveness.

"I wonder about humans sometimes" Sideswipe began weaving a little as the crowds cleared and human eyes were off him "Think that'll get us into the power station too?"

"Let's try it" Bumblebee chose to ignore him.

The power station was easy enough to find, tall and dark with several cables leading up to it.

There were also many workers sat atop a hill watching over it.

Hanging back they let Strongarm investigate.

"What's going on down there?" She quickly sidled up to them lights barely glowing in the darkness.

"Oh, hm?" A few of the workers looked her up and down and seemed satisfied with appearance alone.

"The intercom started up and we were ordered to leave, seemed strange at first but then three guys in strange suits showed up" One answered.

"Yeah! One of them hit Todd when he refused! And then we all ran" Another gestured to a human sat on the floor, a small scan showed he had nothing more than major bruising but Strongarm made a concerned noise nonetheless.

"Thank you, is that all? No strange circumstances?" She tried for a little more information.

"Apart from three guys wearing what looked like metal armour, no but I mean doesn't that count as 'strange'?" The original speaker piped up again "Though that just sounds crazy right? Especially in a power plant, no one is dumb enough to wear metal around so much electricity, might be some newfangled protection-junk they're trying to roll out too I suppose? I mean there was also a big flash at one point so maybe they were doin' somethin'?"

"Three aggressive men in metal?" Strongarm repeated to a chorus of nodding "Alright well, you all go home, myself and my team will take it from here, just come back in the morning and everything will be fixed okay? We'll look after it for tonight"

The notion of leaving an entire section of the city without power overnight was stupid and Strongarm left before any of them questioned why some surprise team showed up out of nowhere to take over.

Leaving the humans to sort themselves out she returned to the rest of the Autobots.

"They claim three men in metal showed up" She informed them "Most likely Cybertronians if you think they brought the leech here, and clearly Mini's"

"A trio of mini-leech-lovers?" Sideswipe's engine revved "This ought to be fun! Running distraction!" He dove into the power plant.

"Sideswipe! Frag it!" Bumblebee cursed "Right, Drift, you and Strongarm guard the perimeter so they can't escape, I'll deal with him"

The trio held a shared grumble at Sideswipe's recklessness as they followed him in.

From above, green lenses tracked them.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note:** This fic may end up having an indefinite hiatus.

I had wanted it to take place during/around Season 3/4, BUT certain potential plot points (That I'm not even sure are even going to happen) MIGHT put a spanner in the works, so depending on how the series pans out depends on the future of this fic.  
If not then all I need is to get the motivation back haha!  
I might be able to get chapter 5 and 6 out, but even still that'd be it and the story will stop until we see how this season goes.

(Or alternatively I could just write it off as having happened before this season and say it's a AU/different timeline. Ah well, time will tell.)

* * *

"Sideswipe! Sideswipe!" Bumblebee yelled ineffectively knowing it wouldn't get his team mate to stop, but at least it got his attention.

"Am I luring enough?" He smirked with a cheeky tone.

"Sideswipe, don't! We need to examine the property for any more leeches!" Bumblebee matched his speed in an attempt to try and slow him down.

"Right, right, How about you do that, while I keep any intruders distracted Bee? I know what I'm doing" He uttered, lackadaisical as he sped through the large warehouse-like rooms of the place, lined with generators not generating power.

Bee didn't slow him down and Sideswipe made a sharp left, spiking away from him and into the next set of rooms, leaving Bee to skid to a halt.

"Fixit" Bumblebee tried redirecting his annoyance at Sideswipe elsewhere "Are you getting any readings from around here, any Decepticons or unusual energy signatures? Seems the culprits here are a trio of Mini-cons"

"Yes, vy… tie...I'm picking up energy from a ground bridge there! This is definitely our culprits! It musk… tusk… must be! If they have a lab for such genetic tampering, a ground bridge makes sense!" Fixit thrummed over the communicator, the sound laced with some static.

"Okay… That's good Fixit, we get these three and we can find out if there really is a leech problem" Bumblebee flicked his communicator off and turned right.

At the very least they could be 'spread out' and searching for any sort of clue.

Even so, Bumblebee found himself motionless for an excessive amount of time.

It was like he was being watched.

That crawling sensation ran through his spinal strut and he took himself out of his vehicular form.

He was alone in this room but that didn't make the feeling any better.

Crossing the boundary to the next room, there was a whirring whine increasing in pitch and then a Mini-con swinging from the ceiling in front of his face plates.

Bumblebee barely had time to register its appearance when a flash took his optics offline and a weight dropped onto his back and slammed hard into the back of his helm, knocking him out.

If he were awake he'd hear a set of voices speak in unison

"This one is called Bee" It uttered before waiting.

Elsewhere, through a communication channel, they got a reply.

"Acknowledged master, we will exercise extreme caution around them" The voices uttered again before changing pitch "Reflector! We are one!" It yelled.

Elsewhere Sideswipe was making his presence known through loud tire-screeching doughnuts and deliberately knocking a few shelves over.

"Heeeey anybody heeeeere! I'm looking for a little, trouble" Sideswipe found himself hilarious.

Up ahead a tiny piece of equipment fell from the ceiling, some of the generators had large pipes heading into the upper floor but there was a gap surrounding said pipes, one hopefully big enough to get through.

"Oh, bingo!" He cheered to himself zooming forwards hoping to run these little weirdos down, literally if possible.

He clambered onto the nearest generator shifting his form up the pipe the gap seemed smaller up close but that was hardly going to stop him.

It was a tight fit, he managed to get his upper half through but the gap seemed to pinch at his abdominal plates.

Thankfully someone helped him the rest of the way, grabbing his shoulders, Sideswipe was yanked upwards to the next floor.

Smaller but adequate for his size.

His saviour, however, was not really a saviour.

Just as big as Sideswipe they had piercing green optics, an almost camera-like circular lens on their chest and very dull near-grey purple plates with silver accents.

And a quite obvious Decepticon symbol on their collar.

"Oh, hey buddy, I was expecting little guys" Was the first thing Sideswipe managed before a fist connected to his face plates.

Still reeling from the hit Sideswipe scrambled on the floor, his foe advancing quickly, he managed to grab a box and lobbed it at the offender, nailing the Decepticon right on the nasal plates.

"This will be quick" The 'con uttered as if a few voices spoke as one, scowling at the hit.

"Oh that's creepy" Sideswipe managed before the lens on their chest opened up and a short sharp click announced the bright flash that blinded him.

Barely upright, the sudden loss of sight sent Sideswipe into a gasping spiral as he could barely keep himself standing, even his navigational software seemed to be rebelling from the flash's influence.

But it was more than enough for his enemy, who grabbed onto him tightly.

Then he was punched in the face.

Pain ringed through Sideswipes audios as somehow this Decepticon held him still, and punched him at the same time.

Sideswipe struggled, at least it was close quarters, he could barely miss at this range.

His legs made contact with something and Sideswipe kicked it as hard as he could.

The fists assaulting his face faltered, only for the arms to drop him with a grunt.

Back on the floor, Sideswipe was no doubt flopping around like some kind of beached marine creature as he tried to figure out which way was up, grab some kind of weapon and ignore his painful face at the same time.

His enemy was not so encumbered and grabbed his arm, applying a foot to Sideswipes back the Decepticon kicked him, lurching him forwards and wrenching his shoulder joint from its socket.

Sideswipe shrieked as he felt the skeletal support joint of his arm pop out and the limb turn unresponsive.

Reflector dropped his prey to the floor, kicking them in the side he relished the pained yelping and the allies it would no doubt draw.

He'd get to report back his findings of this team.

Master will be happy.

Grabbing the writhing Autobot once more Reflector hauled them over his shoulder.

The Autobot was stubborn and still flailed with his still functioning limbs trying to kick and punch at whatever he could reach, but it was in vain as Reflector reached the south end of the building, the side facing the plant's cooling water supply.

"Two found," He thought as he lobbed the struggling Autobot through the window.

Bumblebee awoke to loud yelling.

He was propped up against a wall with Jetstorm and Slipstream accompanying him.

"You're awake!" They grinned.

"W-what's happening?" He winced, his vision still blurry but manageable.

"Master Drift and Strongarm are apprehending the culprit" They informed him.

In the other room, Drift and Strongarm were indeed circling the Decepticon.

"Give it up Reflector!" Strongarm barked, her forearms dented.

Reflector ignored her and instead leapt towards Drift, the orange Autobot easily side-stepping him, swinging his sword he hit the 'con in the back sending him tumbling down.

Reflector rolled into the fall jumping up and taking another swing at Drift, hoping to add to a couple of dents to him, but Drift was already backing away regrouping with Strongarm.

Reflector hissed, glaring at his enemies.

His chest split and his arm peeled apart like an Earth fruit with it.

He now had four arms and a segmented chest, the only part of his torso untouched was the lens.

It had the desired effect.

Both of the Autobots looked taken aback by the mini-transformation and it was perfect.

Reflector dived forwards, taking advantage of the momentary confusion his larger, upper arms swung into Strongarm, knocking her over, while the secondary arms grabbed Drift's neck cabling yanking him from the floor with a startled grunt.

The Autobots were slammed into each other and dropped to the floor.

"Look up" Reflector commanded and, slightly dazed, the Autobots complied.

Flash.

Bumblebee, Slipstream and Jetstorm winced as the room behind them flashed brightly.

"No! They've been blinded!" Bumblebee scrambled to his pede's, almost falling over but he managed locomotion.

Drift's students were quicker to the call and responded faster as they both ran into the room.

At the far end Drift and Strongarm were on the floor, optics unfocused and useless.

Drift was handling it better, managing to get upright he swung his sword out for his foe, unaware it was not as big as he knew.

Standing between them were three Mini-cons, all identical in appearance they looked up together.

"What have you done to Master Drift?" Jetstorm burst in with little forethought, his weapon above his head.

The trio looked at each other as they moved out the way.

"Jetstorm stand down, I am fine!" Drift tried commanding once more trying to strike where he thought the now-nonexistent large bot stood.

"We're leaving anyway, we'll give you something to remember us by!" The three Mini-cons spoke together and a Ground Bridge flickered to life.

Bumblebee stood in the doorway in time to watch the portal open and the trio dive in, and some kind of sphere fly out before it closed.

"What was that!?" Strongarm was still shielding her optics as if applying pressure would fix it.

The only three bots in the room still with sight stared at the sphere.

It was covered in tiny glowing blue panels that flashed with small arcs of electricity.

And a timer.

"A bomb!?" Jetstorm and Slipstream immediately panicked hopping about on the spot.

"Sir!? What do we do!?" Strongarm yelled looked fruitlessly around the room.

"Nobody panic! Just stay calm! I-I can defuse this just don't panic!" Bumblebee held out his hands in a useless calming gesture.

The Mini's quickly went to their master's side both out of nerves and to tell him of the enemy's change leaving Bumblebee to kneel over the bomb.

He quickly realised that his vision up close was not fully operational as the bomb became fuzzier the closer he got, however, the important part to check first was the timer.

He could make it out, from a distance.

It had an awful lot of zeros.

That was not good.

Bumblebee looked around the room, no one was looking at him, none of them even seemed capable of running just yet.

Scooping up the bomb, Bumblebee ran to the nearest Southside window and threw it.

It was the water's problem now.

But their problems were still ongoing.

"Where's Sideswipe?" Bumblebee ran back to his team for an answer.

The aforementioned bot was out of the compound and barely awake.

His systems seemingly having shut down temporarily but a small energy surge pulled him into consciousness.

"Ugh…"

"Aaaah frick"

"Wh… Wha? Who's there?" Sideswipe suddenly struggled, his optics weren't fully online yet but everything else was and he wasn't touching a thing, but something was clamped around his body.

"Go back to sleep pally! No one's meant to know I'm here! Was just checkin' if you were functioning" The other voice came back again.

Sideswipe tried to struggle again but it only reminded him of his disjointed arm, biting back the small hiss of pain he tried to play it cool as he looked up.

Some kind of purple jet had a clamp around his body, the wings were swept slightly forwards, but that was all he could make out at this angle.

"Wh-! Put me down!" Sideswipe grabbed onto a wing with his functional hand trying not to look down at the water and at how far away it was "I'm dangerous!"

"More like in danger, I just saved your sorry chassis, my man!" The jet chirped, while a muffled bang echoed out in the distance.

Looking back Sideswipe watched as the water had exploded upwards with a dull flash of light.

"What was that!?" He immediately blurted out.

"Uh, bomb? What else explodes ya' numb-nuts! And I just happened to be investigating when I saw your not-so-subtle red-self get tossed out a window!" The jet bobbed with its words.

"Sure, sure… Thanks? I guess… Though it ain't much danger in the water! I coulda saved myself!" There was something suspicious about the random appearance of the jet but it did help him. "Just what are YOU investigating anyway?" The suspicious tone was unavoidable.

"You guess? Oh, gee, I possibly blow my cover just to rescue some Autobot and this is the thanks I get?" The jet swerved in the air, heading back to the power plant the clamps detached and Sideswipe barely had time for a squeak before he hit the roof.

"Just don't tell anyone I was here okay dude? Be cool about this" The jet turned in the air, hovering in front of Sideswipe.

"Oowwww, gee fine, but only 'cos you did take me away from whatever that was unless YOU planted it that is!" Sideswipe managed to scramble upright, even if he wasn't on his pede's he wanted to face the mysterious newcomer.

They were a purple yet that much is obvious, it looked a little like they were designed to have something heavy attached, and the windows were tinted an orange-red.

The jet did not give him time to register beyond that as it spun and started to fly away.

"Ungrateful" It hissed, arching up into the sky leaving a slight purple trail from its engines.

It did, however, have a triangular symbol with a white outline on it, and while he didn't see it in full, he saw enough to know.

"Sideswipe!" He heard his name being called.

Getting up he looked over the edge to see Bumblebee trailed by Jetstorm and Slipstream.

"Up here Bee" He yelled and Bee looked up.

"Uh! Wh- how did you even get up there Sideswipe?" He sounded as confused as he looked.

"I keep tellin' ya' Bee, I'm talented!"


End file.
